68: strength

Wrapped in the silver wings of light transformed by Grey Wind, Lei Wen was like a meteorite falling from the sky.

He tore through the atmosphere, then slowly decelerated, finally landing silently at his home in Tianqiong City.

Now, he was no longer hesitant, no longer lost.

The return of Grey Wind was the final piece of the puzzle, making the hand he held, which had previously seemed slightly incomplete, instantly whole and impeccable.

The second day after returning to Earth, he had "white flower" send an extremely concise email to the top leadership of the dome project Joint Command Center in the name of "the guide".

The email contained only one sentence.

【Tomorrow at 10:00 AM, at the main factory of Leidian Special Steel Co., Ltd. in Tianqiong City, I will be waiting for your arrival to unravel all the mysteries.】

The appearance of this email immediately threw everyone at the Joint Command Center into a flurry.

"the guide"!

That mysterious existence, who predicted the impending arrival of an alien civilization, was suspected to be the mastermind behind Paradox Technology, yet had remained a "ghost" who had never shown his face—was he finally going to appear?

...

The next day, at 9:50 AM.

A large, unmarked transport aircraft, escorted by several of the latest generation J-20 fighter jets, landed grandly at Dikui City International Airport.

The cabin door opened.

The Chinese delegation, led by Academician Chen Haikang and Professor Liu, and the American delegation, led by Dr. Thorne, walked quickly off the plane.

They would take a diplomatic-grade motorcade to that factory in Tianqiong City.

The level of this meeting was unprecedented.

In addition to these three top leaders of the dome project, the entourage included top-ranking generals from the military and intelligence agencies of China, Russia, the UK, and France.

Every one of them was a bigwig whose stomping of a foot could make the planet tremble.

And today, they gathered here, filled with a sense of tension and anticipation to meet that mysterious existence.

However, what greeted them was not some majestic honor guard, nor a legion of robots filled with a sense of future technology.

There was only a young girl.

A silver-haired girl who seemed to have walked out of a myth, beautiful to an unearthly degree.

When Grey Wind appeared before them in her perfect, youthful form, all the bigwigs present, who had seen it all, couldn't help but hold their breath.

She had long silver hair that flowed down like moonlight, and her skin was fair to the point of being almost transparent.

Her face was a perfect oval, with a delicate and elegant chin.

And the most captivating part of her face was undoubtedly her azure eyes; they were large and bright, the color of her pupils like the purest sapphire, seemingly containing an entire ocean of stars within them.

In those eyes, one could see two distinct qualities miraculously blended together: both the pure curiosity and liveliness of a young girl, and the vicissitudes and wisdom accumulated over thousands of years of loneliness deep within her gaze.

In stark contrast to her young, even slightly naive-looking face was the black officer's uniform she wore, which was filled with a sense of majesty and order. At Lei Wen's request, Grey Wind had transformed her silver-white bodysuit into a uniform she believed conformed to the understanding of a primitive civilization.

The uniform looked well-tailored and crisp, with a high collar and scarlet trim that highlighted discipline and strength.

On her shoulders were gold epaulets and sashes representing supreme honor, and the octagonal star medal shimmering with starlight on her chest became the finishing touch of the entire image, as if telling of her unknown and glorious battle record.

This military uniform, symbolizing iron blood and conquest, worn on such a beautiful girl, not only did not look out of place but instead created a strong sense of contrasting beauty.

At this moment, she was using her pure, sapphire-blue eyes to size up these people who held supreme power in the human world.

"Everyone, welcome to my... um, my old friend's home."

Grey Wind tilted her head, revealing a sweet smile, "Please come with me, he has been waiting for a long time."

Her voice was crisp and melodious, but it made the few intelligence agency heads present shudder inwardly.

Because there was absolutely no information about this girl in their databases.

It was as if she had appeared out of thin air.

Led by Grey Wind's footsteps, which were so light they seemed weightless, the group passed through the surface factory used for "performance" and took an internal high-speed elevator to the command center located deep underground.

When the heavy alloy doors of the command room slowly opened, everyone was stunned by the scene before them.

It was a huge, empty, circular space filled with a minimalist style.

In the center of the room was a massive, slowly rotating holographic globe over ten meters in diameter, accurately marking the real-time dynamics of every ocean current and every cloud layer.

And the walls surrounding the room were made of a single curved screen capable of displaying various data streams; countless pieces of information flowed silently across it like a waterfall, full of a sense of the future and the majesty of controlling everything.

In front of that huge holographic globe, only one figure stood silently, with their back to them.

It was a young man in simple casual clothes; his figure appeared somewhat thin against the soft blue light emitted by the globe, yet it revealed a sense of mystery that blended with the surrounding environment.

Hearing the movement behind him, the young man slowly turned around.

When everyone saw his face clearly, they were all stunned.

Especially Academician Chen Haikang and Professor Liu, whose expressions shifted instantly from initial anticipation to incredulous shock.

Because what appeared before them was not some strange-looking mysterious alien, nor some otherworldly expert with white hair and a youthful face, possessing a celestial aura.

But a face they definitely recognized, even if they couldn't call themselves familiar with him.

The chairman of Leidian Special Steel Co., Ltd., the general agent for Paradox Technology in Asia, that young entrepreneur who had risen at rocket-like speed in the past few years, possessing immense influence in both political and business circles, and even hailed as the "Eastern Elon"—Lei Wen.

"Mr. Lei Wen?"

Academician Chen Haikang looked at him, his face filled with disbelief, and he subconsciously looked around, seemingly searching for another true protagonist, "Why is it you? Where is the guide? Did he ask you to receive us?"

Lei Wen looked at the expressions of shock and confusion on everyone's faces, a faint smile appearing on his face.

He knew that this "one-man show" which had lasted for several years had finally reached the moment for the curtain call.

"Academician Chen Haikang, Professor Liu, Dr. Thorne, Generals..."

He spoke slowly, his voice calm yet clearly echoing in everyone's ears, precisely transmitted to everyone's auditory nerve centers through the perfect acoustic design of the room.

"There is no the guide."

"And there is no StarRiver."

"From beginning to end, it has only been me."

He paused, meeting the gradually terrified gazes of everyone, and said word by word in a tone that was almost like a verdict:

"I am that 'ghost' you have been searching for."

"Everything about Paradox Technology, from ultra-high-strength materials to optical quantum supercomputers, from intelligent engineering robots to the voyager that is about to be completed, everything was planned by me alone behind the scenes."

"My purpose, as you can all see, is to ensure that our Human Civilization can have a sliver of power to resist the impending disaster."

"And that disaster," his voice carried a hint of unspeakable heaviness and apology, as if stating a cruel fact that was unrelated to him yet deeply connected to him, "unfortunately, in a sense, it was also brought by me."

Shock, astonishment, absurdity, suspicion... various emotions intertwined, causing their brains to completely crash.

Lei Wen is the guide? Is he StarRiver?

That mysterious existence is actually this young man who looks only in his twenties?

And that alien crisis that could potentially destroy Human Civilization is also related to him?

This... how is this possible? This is more bizarre than any science fiction novel, crazier than any conspiracy theory!

"Mr. Lei Wen, please explain! What is going on?!"

Dr. Thorne was the first to break free from the extreme shock; her voice became sharp due to the intense fluctuation of her emotions. As a pure scientist, she could not accept such a truth that overturned all logic and common sense.

Lei Wen nodded; he knew he had to give them an explanation, an explanation sufficient to convince them.

He told everything to these people before him who represented the highest power on Earth without reservation.

Of course, he still concealed the core secret regarding his computer and the game "stellar universe".

Because he knew this truth was too absurd and challenged the limits of human cognition too much.

Once spoken, the consequences could not be predicted.

Thus, he fabricated a "background" for himself that was relatively easier to accept and had a more mysterious aura.

It was a version that sounded most reasonable after countless logical deductions and polishings by "white flower".

"...I don't know how to explain the source of all this to you all." He looked at the group, a hint of just the right amount of confusion and sincerity in his eyes, as if he himself were a victim in this huge mystery.

"I only know that one day seven years ago, when I woke up from an ordinary sleep, some things that didn't belong to me suddenly appeared in my mind."

"That was all the history and knowledge of an alien civilization named Faleim Scientific Conglomerate. They were like an incredibly realistic, ultra-long documentary, playing on a loop in my consciousness in a way I couldn't resist."

"I saw their birth, evolving step by step from the most primitive life forms into intelligence on a planet called the Falem Homeworld."

"I saw their expansion, their first sub-light-speed spaceship, their first extraterrestrial colony."

"I saw their glory, how they unified their home planet, how they developed faster-than-light travel technology, and how they established a vast interstellar empire spanning hundreds of star systems in just tens of thousands of years."

"I also saw the entire process of them eventually ascending and accidentally descending into our universe."

"At the same time, I also learned all the technical details, strategic goals, and thought patterns of that fleet approaching us."

"At first, I also thought I was crazy, thought I had some kind of severe schizophrenia." Lei Wen's face showed a wry smile, "I even went to see a psychiatrist, but all the test results showed that I was perfectly normal."

"It wasn't until I tried to write down the knowledge that appeared in my mind—like the theory of light quantum computers and the principles of microscopic materials science—on paper, and discovered with horror that they were logically completely self-consistent, that I had to accept this fact."

"A certain existence that transcends our scope of understanding chose me and placed this heavy mission into my hands."

Although this carefully packaged story was still full of mythical color, it was clearly easier for these high-ranking bigwigs to accept than the claim that "all of this came from a game I played."

After all, human history has never lacked legends of "revelations," "epiphanies," and "oracles." Galileo's talent, Einstein's inspiration, Ramanujan's intuition... sometimes the end of science is really only a thin line away from theology.

Everyone present fell silent.

They looked at Lei Wen's face, young yet seemingly bearing a thousand years of vicissitudes, their hearts filled with mixed feelings.

They didn't know whether they should fully believe his words. But they knew that, regardless of what the truth actually was, one fact could not be denied—it was this young man before them who, by his own strength, had brought the entire Human Civilization to a new height, whether he intended to or not.

"So, why did you invite us here today?" Academician Chen Haikang finally broke the silence, his voice hoarse and grave, as if every word weighed a thousand pounds. "Is it just to tell us this truth?"

"Not just that, but also to show you the power I currently possess." Lei Wen's eyes instantly became sharp, and the aura of an ordinary person on him vanished in that instant, replaced by a sense of majesty and indifference.

He snapped his fingers lightly.

This crisp snapping sound seemed exceptionally clear in the quiet command room.

The huge curved screens around the command room lit up instantly. What appeared on the screens was not complex data streams, but real-time surveillance footage that was enough to make all the military generals present feel a chill down their spines.

On one screen, an iron legion composed of tens of thousands of [Velociraptor] combat robots was conducting uniform tactical drills in the underground space of Tianqiong City. They would sometimes form an impenetrable shield wall, and other times transform into an invincible charging arrowhead; their ability to coordinate in combat and their strict discipline were enough to make any ace special forces unit on Earth feel inferior.

On another screen, an uncountable number of various models of armed drones, like a swarm of bees blocking out the sky, were performing coordinated combat flights in a huge space that also seemed to be located underground. They would sometimes form dense attack formations, simulating saturated strikes; other times they would transform into a huge electronic jamming network, the electromagnetic pulses released by which were enough to instantly paralyze all communications in a small city.

On yet another screen, the armor plates on the periphery of the [Babel Tower] space station located in Earth's geostationary orbit slid open silently under a command, revealing dense arrays of electromagnetic cannons and nuclear fusion missile launch ports flickering with cold, chilling light beneath. This sky city, built entirely by Paradox Technology, revealed its hideous fangs as a space fortress at this moment.

And the last screen was what made everyone feel the most shocked and suffocated.

In that empty cosmic space with the azure Earth as the background, a silver-white giant ship over thirty kilometers long, with a design full of chaotic beauty, was floating quietly.

Around it were hundreds of agile, shark-like medium and small warships made of the same silver-white material, conducting formation patrols and forming an impeccable defensive formation.

"This... this is..." A general from Russia, an iron-blooded soldier who had experienced countless wars, swallowed hard as he looked at that vast silver fleet, his voice filled with undisguisable shock. "Is this your fleet?"

"You can understand it that way." Lei Wen said indifferently, his tone as calm as if he were introducing a potted plant in his backyard.

He didn't explain the existence of Grey Wind; he only needed them to see the results, and that was enough.

"I am showing you these not to show off military force, nor to threaten you." Lei Wen turned around and looked back at the slowly rotating holographic globe, as if examining something in the palm of his hand.

"I just want to make you all understand one thing."

"In the face of the upcoming true interstellar war, those so-called conflicts and contradictions between all our current countries and nations, arising from history, culture, and interests, are so ridiculous and meaningless."

"We have less than half a year left." His voice echoed in the quiet command room, every word striking everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

"But," one of the representatives hesitated for a moment before saying, "since you have such a fleet, you might already be stronger than the entire military force of Human Civilization. If even you cannot defeat the aliens, then what can we do?"

Lei Wen shook his head upon hearing this.

"If everything were handled by me alone, then what is the meaning of the existence of Human Civilization?"

Lei Wen's words caused everyone to fall into deep thought.

"The progress of a civilization can be slow, but it absolutely cannot stagnate; stagnation means regression. Although I possess a large amount of advanced technology and military force, I am, after all, only one person. I personally cannot become the entire civilization. The transformation of thought requires human sociologists, and the application of technology requires human scientists. I, alone, can never jump out of the box of inherent thinking, but within the entire Human Civilization, there will always be people who can walk a step or two further than me. Moreover, if Human Civilization ceases to exist, then one day when I die, all our traces will vanish with the passage of time."

"I am Lei Wen, I am Lei Wen from Earth, I belong to Human Civilization."

"This is my answer." Lei Wen said firmly.

Everyone present was moved.

"So I invited you all here today to let you make a final choice."

"Either, from today, immediately put down all your narrow-minded barriers and prejudices, integrate all the power of the entire Earth thoroughly and unreservedly, and under a unified banner, face together the test that concerns the survival of our entire civilization."

"Or..."

He didn't continue, only slowly raising his hand, holding the holographic globe in a phantom grip.

Everyone present understood the meaning of his unfinished words.

Either unite voluntarily.

Or complete a mandatory integration with blood and fire in the face of him and the power he controls.

This was a multiple-choice question with no third option.